Xanders-B055
Ensign Xanders-B055 is a SPARTAN-III Commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command, attached to Special Warfare Group Three. Xanders was a highly skilled combatant, excelling in both strategy and close quarter combat. Xanders was the second in command of REAPER Team, an elite team of SPARTANs drafted to undertake Operation: ARK ANGEL. Biography Childhood & Early Career Xanders was born in 2529 on Jericho VII. Despite the underground Insurrectionist presence on the planet and the ever increasing threat the Covenant posed to the Outer Colonies, Xanders and his family lived a relatively happy and simple life, where he grew up on his parents farm. In 2535, Jericho VII came under attack by the Covenant, beginning the Battle of Jericho VII. Xanders became orphaned as a result, losing his family as UNSC forces attempted to evacuate the civilian populace. Xanders was taken into a children's home in Casbah, Tribute along with many other children who had lost their families. In 2537, ONI agents approached Xanders with an offer to become a supersoldier to fight the Covenant. Xanders accepted and was relocated to Onyx where he became one of 418 other child candidates conscripted into SPARTAN-III Beta Company by 2539. Xanders adhered well to the program, forming good working relationships with his fellow SPARTANs and gaining recognition from both Kurt-051 and Mendez for his exceptional prowess. He displayed an affinity for CQB combat, favouring powerful close range weaponry and hand to hand fighting. Although he preferred to engage the enemy up close, Xanders was also an excellent marksman, being able to adapt to various situations with ease. Sometime during the early 2540's, Xanders and the rest of Beta Company completed their training and underwent augmentation. Xanders was given the rank of Warrant Officer in keeping with his speciality with CQB weapons. In 2545 directly after Operation: CARTWHEEL, Xanders was pulled out of Beta Company and issued MJOLNIR Mk IV armour due to his genetic make-up which matched those of the SPARTAN-II's. Later Career Xanders was transferred directly to SPECWARCOM and attached to SPECWAR/Group Three following his extraction from Beta Company, where he was deployed to various theatres of war. In 2548, he was assigned to GAUNTLET Team on rotation as a CQB Specialist. He would take part in multiple engagements in the next few years, operating both alone and as part of GAUNTLET Team. In December 2551, he was issued a variant of MJOLNIR Mk V alongside the other SPARTAN-III Commando's utilising MJOLNIR armour systems, prior to the finalised version issued to the SPARTAN II's in late 2552. In February, 2552, Xanders was deployed to Harmony as part of GAUNTLET Team, where he was paired with recent graduate Bain-G057, also a rotational member of the team. During the operation led against the Insurrectionist's, Xanders and Bain worked together and formed a mutual respect for one another. Xanders was present during the Fall of Reach and assisted GAUNTLET Team in undermining Covenant supply chains. Following the Battle of SHADOW Base, Xanders was transferred to the newly formed REAPER Team led by Bain-G057 and promoted to Ensign, becoming his 2IC. Xanders was deployed on Operation: ARK ANGEL on August 12th, 2552. Traits & Personality Xanders was highly disciplined and regimented, maintaining a high degree of law and order in every aspect of his life. He was even tempered, level headed and collected, considering each word carefully before he speaks; unless something needs to be said he often wouldn't say anything at all. Despite this, Xanders has exhibited several instances of losing his composure and displaying an alarming degree of anger and aggression. Because of this, he always strives to keep his cool, disliking how he conducts himself when he fails to maintain control. He firmly believed that if you want to do something, it should be done to the absolute best of your ability and that to make excuses or justifications otherwise is to admit defeat. Exceptional attention to details come naturally to him and he was often described as a perfectionist. Xanders was unrelenting and diligently focused, maintaining determination and resilience no matter the odds stacked against him. He was a highly skilled tactician, being able to step back from a situation and take stock of what's happening around him to figure out the best course of action. Complimenting this was his ability to perform exceptionally with and without teammates, which was the deciding attribute that caused him to be deployed as a lone Commando in a similar fashion to SPARTAN-B312 and Bain-G057. He possessed incredible situational awareness and observational skills, which greatly complimented his performance in close quarter combat. Trivia *Xanders' name is a combination of his initial placeholder name Sanders and Alexander. *Xanders was originally written to be overtly aggressive and anger-prone. This was altered heavily, due to the characteristics being deemed unfitting for a SPARTAN.